Offworld
by CountryGrl
Summary: People are going missing all over Ealing, and Sarah Jane and the gang step in to help with the search. Permanent hiatus.
1. Energy Spike

**Prologue**

It was dark and it was cold, and Carla was all alone.

The three hours since she'd woken up here - wherever ''here'' was - had felt like days. She'd curled herself up in the corner, her back leaning against the icy stone wall, trying to warm herself up by hugging her knees, but it was no good.

She'd cried out a couple of times, for her son and then even for her husband, which was ironic - but once the echo of her own pitiful voice died away she was left with the lifeless silence once more.

She had no idea what was happening but her brain was numb and her head hurt too much even to think about it. Tentatively she put a hand up to her throbbing temples and felt her own warm blood on her fingertips. She couldn't tell how much she'd lost but she knew it couldn't be good.

Suddenly a shaft of light appeared as a door opened. A figure, tall and dark and cloaked in shadows, entered the room.

The door closed.

It was dark and it was cold, and Carla was not alone.

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.

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**Chapter** **One**

**Energy** **Spike**

It's good to be part of a team. It wasn't really something Clyde had been used to until he'd moved to Ealing. He'd always been popular at school, sort of a leader, but that was in a more casual, jokey sort of way, not a team in which you knew you could really rely on each other.

It was like that with Sarah Jane and the gang, he thought. Kind of like being on a ship. Sarah Jane maybe the - unassuming and unofficial - captain, being the one with the car and the supercomputer and the alien know-how, but Clyde and the others were all vital members of the crew. And that wasn't him boasting, for once. It was true. And it felt good.

It was hard to explain, but in a weird way he felt almost closer to Sarah Jane, Luke and Maria - and now Rani - than he did to his own mum. Connected, somehow. Like letting them down would be worse than betraying his own family.

When Maria moved away, he'd felt something he didn't recognise - he still couldn't put a finger on it - almost like losing a sister. Of course he could never tell Luke that. Not that Luke would be able to tease him exactly - Luke was a lot more open about missing Maria than Clyde was, and anyway he hadn't quite grasped the concept of taking the mick yet - but Clyde knew that the moment he told anyone he missed Maria, the feeling would change. He wasn't sure whether he wanted it to, or not.

He was brought suddenly back to earth when his maths teacher, Mr Lattman, dropped a heavy workbook on the desk right in front of him, making a loud banging sound.

Clyde was slightly bemused, but not really that bothered, to find that he'd completely dreamed away most of the lesson, and therefore had no idea what page he was supposed to be on.

Oh well. No surprises there.

He leaned over to look at his mate Danny's book; it was open on page 236. Algebra. How inspiring.

''And I'm sure you'll be very pleased to hear that I've marked your homework from last week, and the reward for those of you who actually handed it in - all six of you - will be that you **won't **have to stay behind after school today to explain why your weekend was far to hectic to manage one page of simplified expressions.''

Clyde sighed, looking down at his maths exercise book, today's page still empty except for a few absent-minded scribbles in the margin. Of course, he _could _ explain why he hadn't really had time for maths homework that weekend. But somehow he didn't think that ''Please sir, I was too busy trying to save the world from being taken over by a freaky alien thing with no face who wanted to rewrite the whole of earth's history'' would go down too well with his teacher. Even if it was the truth.

''So, everyone except Laura, Bethany, Sam, Matthew, Amy and Rashid can stay behind after the bell rings,'' Mr Lattman continued. ''There's twenty minutes left of the lesson so you can all start thinking of some very good excuses while you complete exercises 2a and b.''

Clyde had battled Sontarans and Gorgons, Berserkers and shape-shifting clowns from outer space, but he was sadly powerless against portly maths teachers with too much time to spend handing out detentions.

Unless they were Slitheen in disguise, of course.

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.

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''Clyde, where have you been?'' Rani asked as he entered Sarah Jane's vast attic. ''We were supposed to meet here at 3:45! It's 4:30!''

''Is it?'' Clyde asked, grinning his trademark grin as he went to join Rani, Sarah Jane and Luke, who were standing in front of Mr Smith. ''Sorry. Had a Maths detention with Mr Fattman.''

Luke looked confused. ''There isn't a teacher at our school called Mr Fattman.''

Clyde rolled his eyes. Sometimes Luke's incredibly advanced, but also incredibly literal brain, was just too much to bear. ''It's a nickname, Luke. For Mr _Lattman_.''

Luke paused to consider this. ''So...changing the first letter of someone's name is funny?''

''Only if it makes a word that's funny. Fat man? And he's fat?''

Luke looked blankly at him.

''Oh, never mind,'' Clyde groaned. ''We'll get back to that later. What's this?'' he asked Sarah Jane, nodding at Mr Smith's screen, which was showing a lot of squiggly lines in different colours.

''Just a scan,'' said Sarah Jane, ''of the surrounding area. Mr Smith picked up some unusual energy spikes early this morning and we're just seeing what we can find.''

''And?''

''My scan shows only one recent example of extra-terrestial activity,'' said Mr Smith in his calm, measured voice. ''A small ship has fallen into orbit around earth and has been broadcasting on a betawave frequency since 100 hours this morning.''

''Can you pick up the broadcast?'' Sarah Jane asked, that little bit of excitement and anticipation which Clyde knew so well creeping into her voice.

''Opening,'' said Mr Smith patiently.

There was a hiss and a crackle, and after a moment they heard a voice.

''...repeat, we need more subjects, a number of them have primaterminated. All scouts to report to the mothership.''

Then there was a scratching sound and Mr Smith's voice came again. ''Connection lost.''

''Whew. What was that all about?'' Clyde asked, eyebrows raised.

''I'm not sure,'' said Sarah Jane worriedly. ''Mr Smith, are you able to tell us the origin of the signal? The species?''

''No data,'' said Mr Smith infuriatingly.

''But what did it mean?'' asked Rani. ''What's - prima-whatsit-ated?''

''Primaterminated,'' Luke corrected her. ''It means something's died before it was supposed to.''

''That doesn't sound too good,'' said Clyde.

''No, it doesn't,'' said Sarah Jane. ''Mr Smith, keep an ear out for any other similar broadcasts, will you?''

''Understood. I will monitor the betawave,'' said Mr Smith.

''Well, I'd better get back,'' said Rani once they'd moved away from the supercomputer. ''Mum'll be wondering where I am.''

''Yeah, me too,'' said Clyde. ''Later, Luke. Bye, Sarah Jane.''

''Good bye, Clyde, Rani,'' said Sarah Jane.

''See you later, crocodile,'' said Luke.

Clyde groaned. Tomorrow he'd have to give Luke some more coaching.


	2. Always Something

**AN hello again. Thanks so much to my reviewers, it is really appreciated!**

**I'm sorry this has been soooo long in coming. I had a bit of a mental block but I think I finally know where this is going. I probably need to watch series 2 again because the characters are a little sketchy. Anyway. Enjoy x**

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**Chapter** **Two**

**Always Something**

Clyde came home to an empty house, which wasn't unusual. His mum was probably at Julia's, chatting over cups of coffee like they always did. It sometimes baffled Clyde that they could have so much to talk about; their lives weren't exactly interesting. They'd never been hunted by a Slitheen or kidnapped by a Euvodne.

He grabbed the last coke can from the fridge and settled down in front of the telly. His mum would be home by five and with any luck they'd be replaying the match he'd missed last night while he was watching the Mergollohan flypast in Sarah Jane's observatory.

He watched until half time when he heard the phone ringing. Sighing, he got up to answer it. ''H'lo.''

''Clyde? Is that you?'' He didn't recognise the voice - it was a woman about his mum's age by the sound of it.

''Yeah,'' he said. ''Who is this?''

''It's Mrs Cookson, Josh's mum,'' came the reply. ''Is Josh with you?''

''Nope,'' said Clyde. ''Haven't seen him all day actually.'' It was true - usually his mate Josh sat in front of him in Fattman's class but today his seat had been empty.

''Oh, God,'' Josh's mum said worriedly, ''Really?''

''Yep,'' said Clyde. ''Sorry.''

''It's just, he hasn't come home,'' she continued, ''and I've already checked he's not at football practice.''

''Well, try not to worry,'' said Clyde awkwardly, ''I'm sure he's fine, probably just out with mates.''

''I've called all his friends, that I had numbers for anyway,'' she said, ''You're the last one.''

Clyde frowned. ''Oh. Well, if I see him I'll give you a call.''

''Thanks Clyde.''

She hung up.

Clyde frowned and went to sit back down, but he wasn't too worried. Josh wasn't exactly the brightest kid in the world. He'd probably gone out somewhere and forgotten to tell his mum.

Speaking of mums, where was his? It was long past five o' clock now. He decided he'd phone Julia if she wasn't back by the end of the match.

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.

.

Sarah Jane was drafting an article for the Ealing Echo, half-watching Luke who was learning quantum mechanics with Mr Smith. It amazed her that he had such a great interest in these things - which she'd always found confusing and quite boring. Smiling to herself, she remembered her days with the Doctor, who'd always loved technobabble. She'd ask him what was happening, and he'd launch into some huge explanation which confused her even more, when he could just as easily have said, ''the jelly creatures are attacking the moon of this planet because they use the materials to fuel their ships'' and that would have been enough.

She realised she was staring into space with what was probably a very dopey expression on her face, so she quickly shook her head to clear it and turned back to her article.

After a while, Mr Smith closed the program he'd been using to teach Luke, and addressed her. ''Sarah Jane.''

She looked up. ''Yes?''

''The betawave is broadcasting again.''

She stood up quickly, ''Show me.''

There was a crackling sound, and then they heard the same voice as before.

''Attention all Chealin scouts. We have received enough human subjects for the second phase of the experiment. All scouts can now return to the ship until furthur notice.''

Sarah Jane looked at Luke. He looked back at her. ''Humans,'' he said softly, ''they said, 'humans'.''

''I know,'' said Sarah Jane. ''Mr Smith, have you any more data? Who are the Chealin?''

''The Chealin are a bipedal race originating from the planet Chea, in the Kothanine cluster,'' Mr Smith informed them. ''They are an intelligent species and until recently their technology far surpassed that of any other species in their section of the galaxy.''

''But they were using a betawave,'' said Luke. ''That's not very advanced.''

''No, Luke, you're correct,'' Mr Smith continued, ''The Chealin lost much of their technology in the war against the Lom. Their planet was all but destroyed and the chemicals the Lom released created a disease which wiped out 60% of their population. Then it mutated, and it continues to claim victims even today. For years the Chealin have been searching for a cure, so they might save their race from dying out.''

Sarah Jane looked very serious. ''And now they're travelling to other planets, using other species as test subjects for their medicine?''

''That would be a legitimate assumption,'' Mr Smith said calmly.

There was a moment's silence. Then Luke said, ''What are we going to do?''

''I don't know,'' said Sarah Jane, going to sit down on the long, red couch. ''But we'll think of something. There's always something.''

.

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Panicking wasn't something Clyde usually did, but when he'd hung the phone up on Julia, who'd said she hadn't seen his mum all day, he realised he was actually really worried. That wasn't like him. He was Mr Cool and Collected.

He phoned her boss.

He said she'd been out at lunch time for a break and hadn't come back.

He phoned his Nan.

She hadn't heard from her either.

He got his jacket from his room and stepped outside, knowing there was someone he could turn to. He walked to Sarah Jane's house in silence.


	3. Missing

**AN: Um, wow. Seven months since I last updated. *hangs head in abject shame* It's really weird coming back to this story, since a lot of...stuff has happened in my life since I published chapter two. To be honest I'd forgotten about it, but yesterday I decided to try and update all my in-progs at least once before I publish a new story, so here goes... Sorry for the wait, and sorry if the standard is falling.... Anyway, reviews are love, as always!**

**Chapter Three**

**Missing**

Carla was led down a corridor, its curved metallic walls bathed in a soft orange glow. The floor beneath her feet was vibrating with some sort of energy, and had the surrealness of the situation not been clouding her mind, along with the pain from her head, she might have wondered why.

The word 'led' was a loose term - a better way to put it was she was being _forced_. Every time she faltered or leant slightly to the left or the right, she felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her back urging her to keep moving forward.

The pain only served to remind her that this couldn't be a dream.

''Sarah Jane!''

She turned sharply away from Mr Smith's screen as Clyde entered the attic, looking panicked.

''Clyde! What's the matter?''

He came down the steps towards her and Luke. ''It's my mum,'' he said finally, ''She's gone.''

''Gone?'' Luke looked bemused. ''Gone how?''

''I don't know - she's just gone!'' Clyde said, exhasperated. ''Tried her mobile, tried Nan's, her friends, her boss...none of them have seen her at all today.''

Sarah Jane looked serious. ''Are you sure, Clyde?''

'' 'Course I'm sure. Why would I joke about this?''

''All right, calm down,'' she said, guiding him over to sit on the desk chair. ''I wasn't doubting you, I never would. It's just - Mr Smith has found out some more about the aliens putting out that signal. They're Chealin, and they're kidnapping humans to use them as test subjects for curing a disease that's nearly wiped out their whole race.''

Clyde's eyes widened, ''So my mum...?''

''It's possible.'' Sarah Jane nodded. ''Mr Smith, scan for alien activity on Clyde's estate over the last 12 hours.''

As the supercomputer started the scan, Luke went over to his friend, who looked stricken. ''It'll be all right, Clyde. Mum'll work it out, she always does.''

''I know,'' said Clyde, feigning his usual don't-care attitude which even Luke could see right through.

''It's okay to be worried,'' he added, ''She's your mum. I know if anything happened to---''

''Yeah, well, I'm not you okay?'' Clyde snapped, making Luke flinch. ''I'm not a mummy's boy, I'm fine. Stop going on about it.''

Luke was startled. ''Okay,'' he said quietly, and hastily went to join his mum and Mr Smith.

''There has been no detectable alien activity around Clyde's home in the last twelve hours,'' he was saying, ''However, I was able to pick up traces of static build-up around an isolated area just outside the estate, likely induced by plasma coils, which are often used for...''

''Teleportation?'' Luke guessed.

''Exactly.'' said Mr Smith.

They were interrupted at this point by the sound of footsteps on the stairs and Rani's voice calling ''Sarah Jane? Are you up there?''

''In here, Rani,'' Sarah Jane called back, and they waited a moment for her to appear through the door...but she didn't.

''Odd.'' Sarah Jane voiced all their thoughts, crossing the attic to see what had happened.

She opened the door but Rani wasn't there. Frowning, she stepped out into the hallway, but her young neighbour was nowhere to be seen, not on the stairs either.

''Rani?'' she called, ''Are you there?''

There as no reply.

''Sarah Jane,'' came Mr Smith's voice from behind her, ''I've picked up another trace of isolated static.''

''Where?'' she asked cautiously, knowing the answer.

''Just in front of you,'' the voice replied. ''Energy reading just high enough to transport a human teenager.''

Carla was...falling.

Her vision had started to blur almost as soon as the needle was jabbed into her arm. Her surroundings, larger and whiter than the corridor, and with various machines blinking with tiny lights, started to blend together until her eyes hurt and she forced them closed, then her world was blackness and she was weakening, and then falling, falling into the unknown.

''Can it be reversed?'' Sarah Jane asked Mr Smith, a desperate note in her voice.

''Usually, yes,'' the computer replied, ''But the transportation seems to be locked. I was able to recover the co-ordinates to where Rani has been taken but the plasma coils are already starting to disintegrate, meaning I cannot retrieve her. I'm sorry, Sarah Jane.''

''And the co-ordinates...''

''Match up with those of the Chealin ship in orbit, yes.''

''Oh, Rani,'' Sarah Jane murmured, sadly. Suddenly her head snapped up. ''All right,'' she said, determined, ''There's only one thing for it. Send me after her.''

''Sarah Jane, I must protest--''

''You've got enough power for a one-way trip,'' she cut him off, ''Whatever's happening to Rani, I can stop it, and I'll find a way to bring it back.''

''It could be dangerous,'' Luke warned, half in admiration.

''And that's precisely why I have to go,'' his mum continued. ''It's my fault she's mixed up in this alien business and if she's hurt, I'll never forgive myself. Also,'' she looked at Clyde, ''There's a good chance that wherever she is, your mum's there too.''

''Let us come with you,'' Clyde said, ''We can help.''

''We don't have enough power to transport all three of us,'' Sarah Jane countered. ''But don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Mr Smith, set the co-ordinates!''


End file.
